Zack Snyder lays out the plot for Justice League 2 and 3

Last week I wrote an article on why it’s unlikely – at this stage – that we will ever see more of Zack Snyder’s DC universe after HBO Max releases his Justice League in ten short days.

Which, of course, is a pity… but he leaves behind a trilogy of movies that are loved by DC fans… but we can’t help but wonder what would have come next.

And we have an idea now.

We have known for some time that Justice League was the first instalment in a Justice League trilogy; but what would that trilogy have been? Well, pretty great, it seems.

Snyder has recently been talking a lot about Justice League ahead of its release, but inevitably he also discusses what his plan was for the whole franchise.

JUSTICE LEAGUE PART II

It seem that – after the events of Justice League – JL2 would have opened with the team saving people from a natural disaster and, after it’s done, the team go about their own lives, so we get the idea that, while these guys are a unit, they also all have their own little corner of the world to protect.

We learn that Lois Lane, Amy Adams, was no longer with Clark Kent/Superman, Henry Cavill, but instead wound up with Bruce Wayne/Batman, Ben Affleck and, while many cried about this revelation, allow me to assure you romance between the two is a part of the characters’ lore for a long time:

We learn that Bruce and Lois, both still angry at how they were manipulated by Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor are working together to reveal his full plan which, unbeknownst to them at this stage, would be forming his own team of supervillains made up from Wonder Woman’s Doctor Poison, Captain Cold – who will likely appear in The Flash movie as well as Aquaman villains Orm and Black Manta, all of whom would have their own reasons for wanting the Justice League destroyed – interesting that Deathstroke isn’t mentioned here since, so far, he’s the only one we’ve actually seen Luthor reach out to in Joss Whedon’s Justice League.

Anyway, at the same time Superman is struggling with not being able to return to being Clark Kent anymore as he died during the Doomsday conflict and, added to this, we learn Lois is now pregnant!

Wonder Woman, meanwhile, finds a way back to her home on Themyscira while Cyborg and Flash become the super bros we hoped they would and, together, they clear Barry Allen’s father and get him out of jail.

Each of those baddies were, of course, set to be introduced in Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Aquaman respectively.

While each hero struggles with various troubles and villains, Batman chases down The Riddler and learns that he had been hired by Lex Luthor to solve the Anti-Life Equation which, being Riddler, he had done… once he reveals this to Batman he shoots himself… I can see the fans having issues with this.

Ten, Lex manages – as he’s been trying to do since the end of Batman V Superman – to unlock the Motherboxes which, to his surprise, summons Darkseid to earth. Darkseid has been trying to bring together the Motherboxes and unlock them for eons (that’s why Steppenwolf was on earth in the first Justice League) and promptly takes them – and the power – from Lex.

When the team find out what happens Superman heads to fight him while Lois reveals to Bruce that he’s not the father of the child after Bruce, the world’s greatest detective, worked out she was with child.

While all this is happening, Lex tells Darkseid that Superman is more useful to them as a puppet and wants control over him and they hatch a plan that starts with Darkseid heading to the Batcave where he kills Lois Lane in front of Bruce with his Omega Beam. This is witnessed by Superman who is too slow to stop it happening and with his grief taking over, falls under the control of the Anti-Life Equation.

The Anti-Life Equation is, according to the comics: loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding x guilt x shame x failure x judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side. The equation itself is represented as alien symbols which, when spoken by Darkseid, can be embedded in a person’s mind, leaving them no longer believing in hope, love, life, freedom and all those good things. This is why Riddler killed himself and why we get a merciless Superman in the Knightmare future from Batman V Superman.

After this, all hell breaks loose, with Lex’s declaring war… Doctor Poison, left, drops a gas into Themyscira  which kills the Amazons including Wonder Woman who dies in the arms of Hippolyta, her mother.

Over in Atlantis, Aquaman is taken down by Orm and Black Manta, leaving Mera on the run from her home. This is why in Batman V Superman’s Knightmare we only see Flash and Batman along with evil Superman.

Cyborg is left torn in two, while Superman comes across Lex and burns him with his x-ray vision.

The movie ends five years in the future, with the surviving members hiding in Wayne Manor – remember we saw it as a meeting area for the League in Joss Whedon’s Justice League? Looks like that was the plan here too.

The movie ends with them leaving because Superman has found them…

JUSTICE LEAGUE PART III

The movie opens with Green Lantern coming to earth and finding it devastated by Darkseid. He teams up with Batman and they are soon joined by Flash and Deadshot (Will Smith return, presumably).

Batman explains that Flash is the the most important person in the fight against Darkseid – and indeed had to be saved at one point from the Parademons – and Batman explains he has a plan to stop Darkseid. Green Lantern is immediately on board.

We learn that Cyborg didn’t die when he was cut in two and is working on building the Cosmic Treadmill in hopes of throwing Barry back in time to help stop all this… another complication is that Barry can only be sent back once a year when the planets align, meaning this is a one and done deal as they may not live another year for a second shot. Barry is limited to 10-15 secs in the past.

The plan is that Flash goes back and stops Lex but Bruce takes him aside in secret and gives him a new objective.

We learn that in the five years since Superman turned, all of earth have either become Parademons or Superman’s henchmen, so there’s only a few survivors and that group is growing smaller by the day. We learn Deadshot’s daughter is now a Parademon and that’s why he’s with Batman and Flash.

To power the Cosmic treadmill they need one of the Motherboxes and so they launch a plan to get one which though successful, sees Deadshot killed by Superman who tried to kill him with a Kryptonite bullet.

Superman also kills Mera and Green Lantern while the Parademons destroy Cyborg… this leaves Batman who stops Superman with his Kryptonite spear, slowing him down just enough to let Flash speed back in time.

Flash this time races back to when Bruce and Lois fight just before the arrival of Darkseid – he tells Bruce that he is, in fact, the father of the baby – this leads to Lois, who overhears Flash’s message, returning to tell Bruce what she had originally planned to tell him: that Lex has put together his own team of villains to overthrow the League.

Suddenly, just as before, Darkseid appears and misses Lois this time, hitting Bruce – when Superman sees this, rather than losing all hope at Lois’ death, he manages to beat Darkseid temporarily and then heads off to stop Lex’s plans to topple the Justice League.

The Flash arrives in the Batcave moments after Bruce’s argument with Lois, telling him that she lied and he is, in fact, the baby’s father.

Lois overhears, and is this time able to tell Batman what she wanted to last time they met before Darkseid’s attack: Lex has assembled a team he plans to use to target the Justice League.

With the Injustice League beaten, Bruce knows he’s dying thanks to Darkseid’s blast but the fight isn’t over yet.

Now we see a world not overthrown by Darkseid but united to defeat him and Luthor! Wonder Woman leads Themyscira into the fight while Aquaman bringing the Atlanteans along too. Soon after theGreen Lantern Corp appear and we’re treated to a massive war with men, heroes, aliens and characters from throughout the DC universe fighting Darkseid and his horde.

The war sees Flash run so fast he can be in two places at once and Cyborg takes control of the Motherboxes, using them to weaken Darkseid before  destroying them. Ultimately Batman is the one who defeats Darkseid, dying in the final throwdown.

In the end Wonder Woman, as leader of Themyscira, brokers a peace between all the countries of the world as we move into a new era for the heroes and our planet.

The very end of the movie would see Aquaman rule Atlantis, Cyborg beomes so powerful he manages to rebuild himself as human and Superman, who knows the child is Bruce’s, becomes Clark again and loves Lois and the child as a husband and a father.

Finally, in a ceremony 20 years later, celebrating Batman’s death and the defeat of Darkseid, Commissioner Barbara Gordon urges Lois to reveal the truth to her son about who his dad really is… this leads to a final shot of Batman once again protecting Gotham City from whatever evil lies within.

Phew!

Man, there is some serious plot in there to break down and absorb.

There’s no denying this is a dark vision of the DC universe with everything going to hell before the breaking of the dawn. There’s a lot of death and horror in there and, to be fair, I can see why Warners may have been scared of that vision.

It also baffles me a bit where this would leave the DC universe moving forward… would we see the other movies set in a world where all the countries were at peace? I love the idea of all this as a single, contained story… I’m just not sure where it would leave room for other stories in that world. Batman is dead (for 20 years at least) and the world is forever changed.

It’s a weird idea for sure… but I would still love to see it.

Thoughts?